Carl Icahn bought four million more shares of Dell Inc. (DELL)
last week, according to a securities filing, upping his stake
slightly in an ongoing fight against the technology company's
buyout.
Mr. Icahn now holds 156.5 million shares, or 8.9% of the
company, boosting his stake by 2.6%. He is the largest shareholder
after founder and Chief Executive Michael Dell. Those two are
locked in battle over the future of the company, as Mr. Icahn has
pitted himself against Mr. Dell's plan to take his company
private.
Last week, the company and Mr. Dell, along with his deal
partners at private-equity firm Silver Lake, agreed to delay a vote
on the pending buyout as the buyout group boosted their bid. The
group agreed to pay $13.75 a share, 10 cents more per share than
the original deal; added a special dividend of 13 cents a share;
and guaranteed the regular third-quarter eight-cent dividend would
be paid.
Mr. Icahn has led the charge of shareholders attempting to
scuttle the buyout; he has proposed his own plan, which would see
the company use debt to repurchase a majority of shares and leave
some of the company public.
As part of the delay, the company last week pushed until Aug. 13
the so-called record date that determines which shareholders can
vote. That change effectively made it open season for investors to
buy shares that will now be able to vote in the deal.
According to Mr. Icahn's filing, he bought the shares Thursday,
the day before the announcement of the boosted bid and the same day
he filed a lawsuit seeking to have any delay in the vote
blocked.
Mr. Icahn earlier this year agreed to keep his stake in Dell
below 10%. His lawsuit also has sought to block Mr. Dell from
buying more shares, citing the fact that Mr. Icahn had a standstill
on purchases.
Mr. Icahn is already in position to benefit from the share
purchases. He purchased the shares at an average price of $12.94,
the filing says, meaning he would be up about $3 million as of
Monday's close on last week's purchase. Dell shares on Monday
closed unchanged at $13.68.
A representative of the special board committee that negotiated
the deal for Dell wasn't immediately available for comment, nor was
Mr. Icahn.
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires